Your favorite 200-300 miles

The John Muir Trail

JMT

1) JMT
2) SIerra High Route, not exactly trail.
3) the last 200-300 miles of the WA PCT.
4) the northern 200 miles of the CDT. (I haven't done all of that but the parts I have have been wonderful.)

Now I'm wondering what my walk-in luck would be to do the JMT. . .I'm surprised no one mentioned anything outside of the US.

I'd say almost any 2-300 miles in the High Sierra between Sonora pass and Cottonwood pass. The JMT is great, it's a classic, but it also has quite a few people on it and there is just as much spectacle elsewhere int eh Sierra with more solitude – if you like that. On trail or off, there are a lot of options all through that area and it's really hard to go wrong.

As to walk-up permits for the JMT, if you are going solo you have a very good chance, and especially if you have a little flexibility in your schedule so that you can try a couple days in a row.

I concur with Paul. If you hike into Yosemite from Sonora pass then you can just keep going I believe. If you wanted to start at Tuolumne Meadows and day hike up to Half Dome, Cathedral Lakes, or Clouds Rest you'll get most of what the early section has to offer and getting walk-in at Lyell Canyon should be pretty easy.

Especially nice if you dont' do it during through-hiker season!

Depends on the month (weather, insects, crowds). Depends on whether I’m in the mood for wilderness or culture. I can’t choose a single favorite – as different hikes complement each other. Everything listed below is five-star hiking, IMHO.

Anywhere in the southern Sierra – exactly what Paul McClaughlin said. I prefer south of Mono Recesses, but I’ll go with south of Sonora. No need to get sucked into the JMT crowd, there are plenty of places to wander in the Sierra.

Anywhere in southern Utah – Dirty Devil, Grand Gulch, Dark Canyon, Escalante River and its side canyons, Paria, etc… Any one of them is excellent. Seems most people on this forum gravitate toward trail hiking, which may be why southern Utah doesn’t show up very often.

Outside the US? So many options, these stand out for me:

Australia’s Great South Coast Walk is a fantastic coastal walk. Five stars.

England’s Southwest Coast Path is another five-star coastal walk. Any 200-300 subset of the 600+ mile trail would be top notch. A well documented National Trail.

Any 200-300 chunk of the HRP in Spain and France.

And finally, Turkey’s Lycian Way and Saint Paul Trail.

Thanks all, I am looking at the HRP pretty seriously – Amy, if you have any other resources, please send me a PM.

I've got a friend in Salt Lake now, so I should take a harder look at Utah. I've never done much there. I appreciate hearing about everyone's favorite areas.